Archive of Our Own

Day 8 ~ Immortal ▪︎ Best Friends to Lovers ▪︎ Slice of Life

Having a childhood best friend meant taking a lot of things for granted.

For one, you always had someone to play with. Someone to talk to. A ride or die for all the crazy thoughts that went through your head, no matter how stupid they were. 

When you get a little older, you have a shoulder to cry on. A person to vent to. Someone to offer you advice, even if it was stupid advice.

The latter was the role of one Oikawa Tōru. He promptly snatched the confession letter that was left in Iwaizumi's locker, reading it over. He then handed it back with a frown. "I wouldn't trust her, Iwa-chan. This is the same girl who gave me a confession letter last week."

"I wasn't going to. I don't even know her."

"You know, Iwa-chan, if you keep rejecting all these letters, you're going to end up sad and lonely when you get older."

He scoffed. "Oh, please. You wouldn't let me end up that way anyway."

"You want to spend the rest of your life with me?" Oikawa gushed, taking off his outdoor shoes.

"I never said that, idiot." Iwaizumi felt his face heating up. He shut his locker. "Just hurry up so we can get to class."

He saluted. "You got it, Iwa-chan!" He then proceeded to start talking about something that Iwaizumi didn't really care about.

He thought about what Oikawa had said. The two had known each other for so long that they practically lived together anyway. There was rarely a time that Iwaizumi could recall that the two of them weren't together. The thought of living with Oikawa honestly didn't sound as awful as it could be.

"Iwa-chan?"

The brunette looked up. "What?"

"Are you gonna go to class?"

Sure enough, the two were standing in front of his classroom. He blushed. "Yeah, whatever. See you later, Trashykawa."

Iwaizumi could hardly focus on anything the entire day. He didn't know why, but he couldn't seem to get his mind off of what Oikawa had said. When he got down to it, he didn't think he was ready to leave Oikawa once high school was over. It wasn't that he couldn’t . He just knew it would be weird.

Oikawa had been a thorn in his side for nearly his entire life. So being without him would be out of the norm.

"Iwaizumi-san?"

Iwaizumi looked up to see his classmate had turned around in her seat. She was frowning. "Yes, Suzuki-san? Sorry if you were trying to get my attention. I zoned out."

"You've been zoned out ever since class ended. Is something going on?"

He shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I've just been thinking."

"About?"

"...We're graduating this year, and most of us will probably never see each other again. But…there's someone I'm not quite ready to let go of yet."

"Like…you don't want to leave them?"

"I guess that's one way of putting it."

Suzuki just stared at him for a while before she smirked. "I don't know the whole story, Iwaizumi-san, but if you ask me…I think you like this person."

He just looked at his classmate. "Well, yeah. Of course I do. We're friends."

She laughed. "That's not what I meant. Is it possible that you don't want to leave this person because you want to be in a relationship with them?" Iwaizumi swore he stopped breathing. "Just some food for thought." She turned back around as their literature teacher walked in.

Iwaizumi continued to stare at the back of her head. 

There was no way that was true! Him? In love with Oikawa? His best friend?

It was impossible.

Sure, he enjoyed being around Oikawa, even if he was a bit of a nuisance. He enjoyed seeing the younger teen happy. And maybe he got a little upset whenever Oikawa mentioned that both of them needed girlfriends…

Iwaizumi put his head on his desk with a groan.

He was in love with his best friend.

"And that's how our weekly movie night became a thing," Oikawa said with a triumphant nod, concluding his very long winded story.

"That's great and all, but it doesn't explain you and Iwaizumi’s relationship," Makki sighed, looking around the lunchroom.

"And I told you that Iwa-chan and I are just friends."

"And I'm not buying it."

Oikawa looked down at his phone. "Iwa-chan's not coming. He's helping his homeroom teacher during lunch."

"Perfect! We can continue this conversation." Makki then proceeded to pull out his phone. He typed a few things before showing it to Mattsun.

Matsukawa sighed. Fifteen signs that you're in love with your best friend."

Oikawa sighed. "Really, Mattsun? You're letting him do this?"

The ravenette shrugged. "I'm kinda curious now."

"You two are awful…fine. If it helps you sleep at night."

"Okay, number one. You go to them for everything."

"That has nothing to do with a relationship. Iwa-chan and I have known each other basically our whole lives. Who else would I go to for stuff? I just trust him."

"Okay…you notice little details about them."

"Again, we've known each other for so long." He played with his straw. "Of course I would start to notice little things."

"Like?"

"Like how his nose scrunches up when he goes to spike a ball or how when he blushes, his ears are the last things to go back to their normal color-"

"You've made him blush?" Makki asked, incredulously.

"Secondhand—sometimes firsthand—embarrassment mostly. It's actually not that hard to make him blush."

Hanamaki took his phone back. "Compliments from them are extremely special."

"Well duh, Iwa-chan doesn't compliment anyone unless he genuinely means it. He's not that type of person."

"Everyone else notices the chemistry." He coughed. "The whole team…"

Oikawa rolled his eyes. "Well now you're just being dramatic."

"Okay fine!" Hanamaki scrolled through the list. "Here. You wanna be with them as much as possible."

"Is that so weird?"

Both third years looked at Oikawa. Matsukawa was the first to answer. "Do you want to be with Iwaizumi as much as possible?"

Oikawa shrugged. "...I made a joke about spending the rest of my life with Iwa-chan and he got all weird. Then I got to thinking. We've known each other for years and…it's weird not to be around him. And with college and me wanting to go pro with volleyball…I want him there."

"So you do have a crush on him."

"I guess?"

"And do you plan on telling Iwaizumi any of this?"

"How can I when there's a chance that it'll mess up everything between us?"

"Mess up everything?" Hanamaki looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "You do realize that Iwaizumi likes you back, right?"

"You don't know that for sure."

The pink-haired teen sighed. "I'm going to lose a bet because of you two idiots…"

"What?"

"It's nothing." He stood, looking at the time. "Just stop being an idiot and ask him out."

It was now or never. Iwaizumi was going to see if Oikawa liked him or not.

Not to his face though. There was no way he was doing that.

Instead, he had spent his last class writing a letter that he had stuck in Oikawa's locker when the captain wasn't in there.

Now, all he had to do was wait until practice was over. Which was much harder than he thought it would be.

It was all he could think about every time he looked at the other brunette. He was almost disgusted with how completely in love he'd let himself fall.

"If you're going to keep staring at him like that, I'll have someone else spike instead."

Iwaizumi looked to see that he was in fact at the front of the line of wing spikers. Hanamaki smirked at him as he got ready to toss the ball.

Yeah, practice couldn't end soon enough.

Yet when it did end, he wasn't any more prepared. In fact, he only got more nervous when Oikawa dismissed the team. “Hey, Hajime?”

The vice captain turned from where he was pulling out the volleyball cart. “Yeah?”

“Can you help the second years clean up? I have to go talk to Coach.”

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead.” He continued pushing the cart around as Watari dropped in balls.

“Hey, Iwaizumi. Can I ask you something?”

The brunette turned to face Kyōtani. “What?”

“Are you and that idiot captain dating?”

“Kentarō!”

Iwaizumi did his best to school his expression at both Kyōtani’s question and Yahaba’s outburst. He noticed that even Watari started listening in. “No.”

“Ha, see? I told you they weren’t!”

“Dammit! I don’t wanna give Matsukawa money.”

“Well, Hanamaki owes him money too so it won’t be just you. I think Kindaichi does as-”

“Hold on.” Iwaizumi looked between the three second years. “You guys bet on whether Oikawa and I were dating?”

“It was Hanamaki’s idea, actually.”

Iwaizumi looked at the libero with a sigh. “You have got to be kidding me…How long has this been going on?”

“About two weeks.”

“It was so hard to tell with you two,” Yahabad said, rolling his eyes. “Some days, the two of you act like you hate each other, then you act like an old married couple the next day. It’s exhausting to watch you two pine for each other.”

This time, the ace did blush. “We don’t… pine for each other! We’re just friends!”

“You’re honestly worse than he is,” Kyōtani added with a shrug, continuing to take down the net.

Iwaizumi groaned. Had he been that obvious?

He looked up to see the third and first years walking out. “Whatever. I’m gonna go change.”

He walked off with a huff, vaguely hearing something about the bet as he stormed away to the locker room.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Oikawa. He turned beet red.

He was reading a note. Iwaizumi’s confession letter.

Though the longer Iwaizumi looked on, it just seemed like Oikawa was staring at the paper.

He didn’t know what to do. He almost turned back around when he heard a chuckle.

“Really, Hajime? ‘Be my #1?’ What does that even mean? Like…I know that’s my number and all but…”

His neck started turning red. He’d never felt so embarrassed in his whole life. He wanted to scream as he buried his face into his hands.

He then felt arms wrap around his torso, trapping his arms in their position. “But…you should know that I’m already your #1, silly. Have been for years.”

“Shut up, Oikawa…”

“I’m surprised you waited this long to even-”

“I said shut up!” He turned, shoving Oikawa to the lockers, pinning down his shoulders in the process.

The brunette just looked at him, mouth agape. “Iwa-chan…”

“You don’t have to make fun of me, okay?”

“I’m not-”

“Just forget I said anything-”

“Iwaizumi!” Oikawa tried to free himself from the ace’s grip. He sometimes forgot how strong his best friend was. “Can you let go of me?”

He did, dropping his gaze to the ground before he felt hands cupping his face. He looked up to see Oikawa smiling at him. “I’m not making fun of you, stupid. I meant what I said.” The ace averted his gaze. Oikawa laughed. “So shy, Hajime-”

He was cut off when Iwaizumi pinned him against the lockers again. But this time, Oikawa was just as surprised to see that Iwaizumi was also kissing him. He kissed back, pressing his hands to Iwaizumi’s chest as the boy in question wrapped his arms around Oikawa’s waist.

He let out a breathy laugh when he pulled away, dropping his head again. “You’re a jerk, you know that, Tōru?”

Oikawa poked him in the chest. “But you love me.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes. “I guess I do.” He leaned in for another kiss.

“Yahaba, you liar! They’re about to start a full on make out session!”

Both teens jumped at the addition of another voice. Iwaizumi quickly backed away, turning to the door to see the entire team standing in the locker room doorway/

He growled, throwing a shoe—Oikawa’s left outdoor shoe—at Hanamaki. “You idiot! Why the hell would you make a bet?!”

Hanamaki caught the shoe with a smirk, tossing it aside. “I was right, wasn’t I?” He turned to Matsukawa, who was standing right beside him. “Pay up. You too, Shigeru.”

“I swear Iwaizumi literally just said they weren’t dating!”

“We've been dating for about two minutes now,” Oikawa answered, nonchalantly.

Hanamaki’s face fell. “Dammit! That means Watari and Kunimi were right!”

“What did you two idiots say?!” Iwaizumi didn’t know whether to laugh or be even more embarrassed.

“That if you two weren’t dating, you would be by the end of the month,” Watari answered. Kunimi nodded in agreement as Kindaichi handed him ¥1200.

“You guys bet ¥1200?!”

“Each,” Kunimi answered as he accepted his money.

“And you’re not bothered by this at all, Kawa?” Iwaizumi sat down on the bench, completely defeated.

“I won’t be if Kunimi and Watari use that money to treat us to a team dinner. Though I also wouldn’t mind dishing out some extra laps-”

“There’s a small ramen shop right by the school,” Hanamaki answered, staring down the two underclassmen. “Let’s go there.”

Oikawa laughed. “That’s what I thought. Now get out so we can change in peace.” He watched as they all left. He turned to Iwaizumi after the door shut. “Now, where were we?”